Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to Web searching. In particular, the present invention is related to techniques for providing search suggestions that are sensitive to locality.
Background
A Web server is a computer (e.g., server) or other processing system that is configured to execute a software program that provides information to users in response to receiving hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests from users. For example, the information may include Web pages, images, other types of files, output of executables residing on the Web server, etc. The information may be provided in the form of Web pages, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) documents and objects (e.g., files) that are linked therein, for example.
One type of software program that may be executed by a Web server is a Web search engine. A Web search engine searches for information on the World Wide Web (WWW) based on search queries that are issued (i.e., executed) by users. For instance, a Web search engine may match keywords that are included in a user's search query to metadata associated with Web sites. The Web sites are ranked based on how closely their metadata matches the keywords. A list of the Web sites is provided to the user in an order corresponding to the rankings of the respective Web sites. The list of the Web sites is commonly referred to as the search results. For example, the Web site having the highest ranking is usually listed first in the search results.
Some Web search engines are capable of suggesting search queries to a user with regard to a search query that is provided by the user. The suggested search queries are commonly referred to as search suggestions. For example, a Web search engine may provide a list of search suggestions that are related to the user's search query before the user issues the search query (e.g., as the user types the search query). A user's search query that is initiated (e.g., by typing at least a portion of the search query) but has not been issued by the user is referred to herein as a preliminary search query. In another example, the search suggestions may be provided after the user issues the search query.
Search suggestions are often generated based merely on words that are included in the user's search query. For example, locality may not be taken into consideration with regard to the search suggestions unless the locality happens to be included in the user's search query. Some conventional search suggestion techniques take into consideration the user's location to provide search suggestions that correspond to establishments that are located near the user's location. However, such search suggestions may not necessarily be useful to the user. For instance, just because an establishment exists in a location near the user's location (e.g., in the user's neighborhood) does not necessarily mean that the establishment will be of interest to the user.
Thus, systems, methods, and computer program products are needed that are capable of providing locality-sensitive search suggestions while addressing one or more of the aforementioned shortcomings of convention search suggestion techniques.